Living to Hate Blitzballs
by WitchyElphaba
Summary: The memory of nearly losing a childhood friend is a memory that continues to haunt Riku. PreKH.


A small story idea that had been sitting in my head for some months now, and I finally found the time and inspiration to write it out. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer**: If I were Nomura-san, would I really be here...?

* * *

Lazy, childhood summer days meant simple things for children: there was nothing to worry about. Especially for the children of Destiny Islands, who had claimed a whole entire island for themselves. Those lazy, childhood summer days would be spent playing tag or hide-and-seek, or dueling one another, or swimming, or exploring the caves and wrecks. In other words: there is no time to worry about "grown-up" problems, or problems that children don't normally understand. Like death. 

Unless, of course, death takes it upon itself to force children out of their innocence.

It was a memory that never left Riku, and as he sat on the bent trunk of the paopu tree, watching his best friend swim in the water with their other friends, he couldn't shake the memory that was unwinding in his head once again. He felt the goosebumps rise up and down his arms, despite the hot summer sun beating down on the teenager.

* * *

"Aw, c'mon buddy, it's not that hard!" 

"Holding your breath underwater while playing a sport? That sounds kinda hard to me."

"Yeah, I mean, we're not bad swimmers, but that's just impossible!"

The bright, summer sun beamed down on the Destiny Islands. It was a hot, humid day: a perfect day to swim in the tropical waters of the Islands. Four boys had done exactly that, and Sora, Riku, Tidus and Wakka sat on the shoreline of their little Island, taking a break from the swimming, and lazily tossing Wakka's blitzball to one another.

Wakka had just suggested that the four of them play his favorite sport: blitzball. Tidus himself was rather good at the sport too, seeing that the boy looked up highly to Wakka. The sport, however, never appealed to Sora and Riku. Riku had tried it out himself, but found himself somewhat uneasy and irritated to be submerged in water for minutes at a time. Sora had never actually bothered to try the game.

Today, however, they were bored. And it was a hot day. A _very_ hot day.

"Okay, tell ya what," Wakka began in that strange but suiting accent,"You won't be docked points if ya surface to breathe, ya?"

"Oh, come on guys, it's really not that hard, we'll go easy on you!" Tidus said.

"Easy on us, huh? I'm sure we're not _that_ bad!" Sora piped up. Being nine years old, Sora never allowed for his ego to be deflated. Riku rolled his eyes.

"All right, we'll play."

As the boys jumped up and waded into the water, and Riku looked around. Just several meters from their Island was a fishing vessel.

"Hey, that's dads boat!" Sora cried. Riku looked at it closer. It was Sora's dad's. Riku gave a laugh.

"Well, at least if you're hit in the head and start to drown, help will be right there."

"Hey, that's not funny! Just watch, We're gonna win against those two, and it'll be all because of me!" Sora shouted, holding his chin up in pride. Again, Riku rolled his eyes, but laughed. He placed a hand on top of his friend's head and submerged his head into the water. For a few seconds, he watched Sora wave his arms and splash the water in struggle, then he released him. Sora broke the surface and shook the water out of his face, glaring at Riku. Riku laughed harder, then clapped his friend's shoulder.

"I'm kidding, you're head is too hard for a ball to hit you. That, and your hair is so big, that it'll cushion anything that hits your head."

"Leave my head and my hair alone!"

"Alright, let's go!"

Laughing once again, Riku wadded towards Wakka and Tidus, hearing Sora splashing his way behind him. The four of them took a huge gulp of air, then dove under the small waves. The water was clear and refreshing, and Wakka began the game by tossing the ball downwards towards the sea-bottom. Sora and Tidus dove down and struggled for the ball; Tidus won the struggle, broke through Sora, and passed the ball to Wakka just as Riku sped forward to steal it.

About every minute or so, Sora and Riku quickly surfaced, gulped in air, and dove back down. The two developed a tactic of taking turns to breathe: this way, one of them would remain underwater to keep an eye on the other team.

Although it was a very informal game, the four boys were highly enjoying themselves, that is, except Sora, who had been wacked by the blitzball a fair number of times already. Sora had also been incapable of holding onto the ball for longer than ten seconds, and was growing agitated as the game progressed. He wildly lunged forward, allowing the ball to pass him.

Sora gave a "time out" signal a few moments later, and surfaced. As he shook the water out of his eyes, Riku surfaced up besides him.

"What're you doing back there? You can't hold on to the ball longer than ten seconds!" Riku taunted.

"I know!" Sora shouted, obviously irritated. "It's kinda slippery, you know!"

"It's not that bad, I can hold onto it a bit longer than you..."

"Shut up!"

"Okay, fine. I'm just trying to help."

"Well, you're not. Why'd I have to get stuck with _you_ on my team!"

The two looked at each, almost glaring at one another. Then Riku smirked, preparing to submerge again.

"Yeah, I wonder why, too."

Sora yelled in frusteration, but Riku had already gone back underwater. He sighed, then took another huge gulp of air and went dove back into the water again.

The game continued, with Sora still not being able to hold on to the blitzball for too long. Although he would widly lunge out at Tidus, Sora had been doing his best to avoid Wakka's blows, knowing they were very forceful and powerful. At one particular moment, however, Sora forgot this, and lunged forward in an attempt to steal the ball as Wakka shot it to Tidus.

And it all seemed to happen both too incredibly fast and painstakingly slow.

The blitzball whizzed through the water at the near speed of a cannon, shot through Sora hands, cleanly smacking Sora's face. Riku watched as Sora's eyes widened in what appear to be pain and shock, and watched as Sora floated in mid-water.

The scene was hilarious for the first few seconds, and Riku, Tidus and Wakka subjected to hysterical, gurgled laughters.

Then Riku noticed the blood that was staining the clear blue water, which was trickling out of Sora's nose. His eyes were closed. And he wasn't moving. He was just eerily floating there, his arms outstretched and floating lazily in the water...

Sora was knocked out, underwater...

_'He's drowning!'_

Terror flooding the young boy, Riku swam forward as fast as he could and grabbed Sora's arm. He kicked furiously through the water: the surface wasn't far above him, but with Sora's weight, he was being dragged down. He had to get to the surface, Sora needed air...

He suddenly felt Sora's weight grow lighter, and he looked over to see Wakka taking a hold of Sora's other arm. With Sora's weight distributed between the two, they broke the surface a few seconds later, with Tidus splashing up next to Wakka.

"Is he alright?!" Tidus hysterically inquired. Riku looked down at his friend, who's head was thrown backwards, his face facing the sky. His eyes were still closed, and a small bit of blood continued to flow out of his nose. Was his nose broken?

_'Is he breathing? Is he...?'_

"Riku!"

Riku blinked, and his head snapped up to face Wakka, who looked terrified, but nodded his head towards the fishing boat that was near them. Riku nodded, and clung onto Sora, making sure his mouth and nose were out of the water.

"Get him onto the Island! Tidus, help him, I'll be back, okay!" Wakka broke into a breast-stroke and swam as fast as he could towards boat. Riku wrapped his arm around Sora's chest and began to swim towards the shore again.

"Tidus, make sure his face is out of the water!"

Together, they swam, with Tidus propping up Sora's face. Riku forced himself to not look down at Sora...was he scared?

Riku felt his feet touch sand, and he wasted no time in hoisting Sora's limp arm over his shoulder and dragging him through the shallow waves crashing at the shore. He reached dry sand, and placed Sora down, laying him flat on his back. Tidus hurried out of the water and plopped down into the sand next to Sora. He shook Sora's shoulder, but Sora still did not stir.

_'No...he's just knocked out...he'll be fine...'_

"Riku...he's not...he's not..."

"He'll be fine!" Riku practically shouted, causing Tidus to jump. He looked away from Tidus and down at his friend. The blood had ceased to flow from his nose, and after having been dragged through the water, his face had been wiped clean. Still, he didn't move, and Riku refused to check for any signs of his vitals...was it because he was too scared? Was he too scared that his best friend may have actually drowned right before his eyes, and he had been completely unable to help him?

Riku heard a sob, and he looked up to find Tidus in tears. Surprised, Riku looked at Tidus for a bit, then sighed.

"Tidus, don't worry..."

"What if he's not okay? Will we be in trouble? Will he be mad at us? Or will his mom be mad at us? Will they think that we did this on purpose?"

"No...no they won't think that. He'll be fine, don't worry..." Riku looked away from both Tidus and Sora, wondering if even he himself believed his own words.

"Riku! Tidus!"

They both looked up and saw a small boat rapidly approach. Riku recognized the brown-haired man who splashed into the water before the boat arrived. He watched as the man ran through the waves and onto the sand. Tidus stood up and got out of the man's way just as the man knelt down to Sora.

A pained looked spread across the man's eyes, and Riku knew why. He looked from his sleeping friend to his friend's father, who was now checking Sora's vitals. Riku looked up to see Wakka jump out of the boat, but he didn't come any closer as the rest of the men hurried over to Sora.

Riku found himself unable to tear his gaze away from Sora's father. He appeared so saddened, and so terrified, even more so after checking for a pulse. Riku scrambled back a bit, breathing a lot faster than usual.

No...Sora couldn't have drowned...

They had quarreled just before the accident...he still had to say Sora, and he still had to _make _Sora say sorry...

Suddenly, it seemed as though the world around Riku was beginning to spin, and he brought up his knees to his chest, laying his head on his knees and grabbing his hair. He screwed up his eyes as he felt tears stinging at his eyes.

Why was Sora scaring them so badly?

Sora just _had _to be okay...Sora couldn't have drowned...Sora couldn't have...couldn't have..._died_...

He felt the tears leak down his cheeks, and he let them fall for a moment longer, not paying attention to anything going on around him. It wasn't until he heard Tidus call out his name that he looked up, his face still wet but his eyes clear. Sora was no longer on the sand besides him, but was now in his father's arms as they hurried back onto the boat. He saw some of the men huddled around Sora while two of them pushed the boat out of the shallow water. He couldn't exactly see Sora, but he could see some of his spiky brown hair poking out from some of the men's arms.

_"That, and your hair is so big, it'll cushion anything that hits your head."_

Feeling ashamed for having lied to Sora, Riku shut his eyes again. How long he sat there, his head bowed down against the sun, he didn't know. It wasn't until he felt a hand on his shoulder that he looked up. Wakka, though his face still creased with worry, did his best to smile at him.

"Let's go heck up on him, ya?"

Riku looked past Wakka to see Tidus standing at the small dock, his eyes still teary. Tidus, too, had been frightened, and was still as scared as Riku was. Riku nodded and stood up, trudging his way towards his boat. He lowered himself into the boat and untied it from the dock. He picked up the oar and quickly rowed away from the Island, wanting to know how Sora was.

But what if he got there, and he found his mom and Sora's mom talking quietly, and then looking at him with terribly sad eyes, telling him that they had something to tell him about Sora...

Riku shook his head. No. Sora would be perfectly fine. There was that incident when he fell out of that tree and had broken his arm. They had both been terrified, especially Sora, who had been crying hysterically, thinking that he was going to die, his arm hurt so much.

He paddled his way closer to the dock, feeling anxious and dreading. He hopped onto the dock, hearing Wakka and Tidus doing the same, and the three hurried towards their town.

"They probably took him to the doctor's," Wakka said. Riku nodded.

"How 'bout we go look at the doctor's, you go check Sora's house," Tidus suggested.

"Okay," Riku replied, and Riku took off in a sprint down the lane towards Sora's house. Maybe he had woken up on the boat? Maybe he was already sitting at home, wrapped in a blanket, getting scolded by his mom and dad for playing such a stupid sport?

Encouraged by that idea, Riku ran faster, and finally arrived at Sora's house. He knocked furiously on the door, but nobody opened the door. Again he knocked, but still, nobody. Feeling a lot more sadder than a few moments ago, he turned away and hurried out of Sora's front garden and back out into the lane. He quickly made his way towards the doctor's small building, located near the docks. He found Wakka and Tidus standing outside with two girls, and all turned to see Riku approach. Immediately, Kairi broke away from Selphie and Tidus ran forward, grasping Riku in a tight hug, and began to cry into his chest.

"I-I-I saw them c-carrying Sora f-from the boat! H-he looked like he was s-s-s-leep-" unable to continue, Kairi sobbed a bit more. Riku unsurely wrapped his arms around her, feeling even more tears threatening his eyelids.

"He'll be okay Kairi..."

"P-promise?"

"I..." Riku couldn't bring himself to promise, and Kairi broke into renewed sobs. Riku broke away from Kairi and led her back towards the rest.

"Sora's parents are in there, but the nurses told us to wait out here."

Riku nodded and sat down on the ground. Kairi followed and sat besides him. The afternoon drifted by, and the five of them sat in a small circle outside the doctor's building, none of them saying a word.

It was nearly sunset when the doors opened and the kids anxiously looked up to see Sora's mother stride out. Her eyes, which their friend had inheirited, looked pained, worn and tired. Riku tensed, not wanting to hear anything bad involving his friend...

A huge wave of relief flowed through them all, however, when she smiled at them. Sora's mother knelt beside them all and placed an arm around Kairi and Selphie, both of whom had been crying and hiccuping a bit for the past couple of hours.

"He's sleeping right now, but you can come visit him tomorrow. He'll go home in a few days."

Riku swallowed and nodded, keeping his jaw locked to keep tears of relief from flowing. He watched Sora's mother stroke Kairi's hair, who appeared to be on the verge of falling asleep. He listened as she told them that their parents had been contacted, and would be comming to pick them up soon.

"We can walk," Tidus said, but Sora's mother shook her head.

"They'll want to speak to you. No, you're not in trouble," she said, allowing herself a chuckle as she watched Tidus recoil in terror. "If you boys hadn't helped him, who knows what would have happened..."

Again, Riku felt as though the world around him were spinning, and he closed his eyes to keep himself from getting dizzy. He looked up, however, as he watched parents arrived, and spoke softly to Sora's mother, then took their child home. Finally, only Riku remained, and he watched Tidus being led away by his gruff-looking father. Riku remained sitting there, in silence, next to Sora's mother. She didn't speak, but instead looked at her son's best friend. Riku was saddened by the look of her eyes: it was a fear he wasn't too sure he could even understand. After a moment, she lifted her hand and placed it on Riku's short silver hair.

"You're very brave, Riku. I'm glad you are Sora's friend."

Riku didn't speak, but simply continued to gaze up at her. Then he heard footsteps, and both turned to watch a silver-haired woman approach. Riku remained sitting on the floor as he watched his mother speak softly to Sora's mother. A moment later, Sora's mother walked back inside the building, no doubt to go and be with her son, and Riku's mother beckoned for him to join her. He stood up and dusted himself, and both began to walk down the lane in the direction of the docks.

"Riku, you were really brave back there."

"No, I wasn't."

"How so?"

"We laughed. We all laughed when he got hit. We didn't know what was happening, and it looked funny, so we laughed."

He heard Riku's mother chuckle, and Riku stopped, looking at her incredulously.

"It's not funny mom! Sora was drowning, and all we did was _laugh_!"

His mother ceased her chuckling, but continued to smile. She lowered herself so she could look at her son at eye level.

"Don't feel bad. You thought he'd be okay, and like you said, you didn't know what was happening. You did realize what was happening a moment later, though, and you saved Sora."

"But if we hadn't laughed, we could saved him sooner!"

"There's nothing that can change that, though. You didn't know what was happening, it all happened so fast. What matters is that you and the other two didn't leave him there. You still saved him."

Riku remained quiet and looked away. He still felt immensely guilty for having laughed at Sora, let alone having argued with him. He sighed and lowered his head.

"We fought right before too. We both yelled at one another, saying we didn't want to be on the same team." Again, he grew quiet, then he looked at his mother again. "Mom? Did...did Sora die back there?"

At that, his mother took Riku into a tight hug, one that lasted for a very long moment. When they broke apart, Riku saw that his mother was crying.

"Sora was very lucky. He fought very hard." She led Riku to the edge of a dock, and sat down. Riku followed suit, and let his mother hold him close to her. "Yes, Riku. Sora nearly left us, but he fought and fought. I'm so sorry that you and your friends had to see this."

_'Sora nearly died...Sora __did__ die. But he came back?'_

"But Riku, things cannot always turn in our favor like this."

"Huh?"

"You are probably thinking that people can die, and come back."

"Well, Sora did..."

"Yes, and we're all very grateful. But this won't happen all the time. If this happens again, Sora may not be as lucky. And it's not just him, anybody else may not be as lucky."

The sun had nearly set, and Riku looked at his reflection in the twilit water. He looked very pale, and to his surprise, he saw his own aqua eyes looked just as tired and pained as Sora's mother's did. Riku sighed, just noticing how very tired he was, and slumped against his mother, letting his eyes slide shut. His mother placed an arm around him and held him close, and he sleepily began to speak.

"I was really scared, mom. I thought that I was never gonna talk to him or play with him again, and I felt sad and scared." He burried his face into his mother's shirt, feeling himself drift off to sleep. "I thought I wasn't gonna be able to say sorry for making fun of him earlier. And that me feel really sad."

"That's why you should live, Riku. Live to have fun, because anything like this can happen." Riku stirred; the idea that 'anything could happen' did not sound appealing. Apperantly, his mother thought so as well, and she held him all the more closer. "But don't be afraid. That's all that matters. I'm sorry you had to see this today, I'm really sorry, Riku. Learn from this though: because life is short, you shouldn't be afraid to live."

Riku nodded, and at last drifted to sleep just as the sun set, and night came.

* * *

"Earth to Riku! Are you there?" 

Riku blinked and looked over to see Sora leaning against the trunk of the tree, still drenched from his swim. He then looked over to see Selphie and Kairi sitting on the beach, chatting away happily. And in the water was Wakka and Tidus, passing a blitzball to one another. Riku scoffed.

"Still hate blitzballs?"

"Duh." Sora ran his fingers through his hair, shaking the water out of them. Riku flinched as some of the water flciked over at him, then placed a hand on Sora's head.

"Stop shaking like a dog, will you?"

"Hey, let go!"

Riku obliged, and Sora hopped up onto the trunk, still in his swimming trunks. The summer sun beat down on the two friends, and the two enjoyed a moment of the blissful nothingness that summer offered to the kids of Destiny Islands. After the moment, Sora took it upon himself to speak.

"How come you're not swimming, or sunbathing like them?" he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the girls laying on the sand.

"Someone has to keep an eye on you."

"What do you mean?"

Riku ruffled Sora's hair, then hopped off the tree trunk before Sora could retaliate.

"I've gotta keep you away from Wakka and Blitzballs. The three of you don't mix well together at all." Riku prepared to dive into the waters, but looked back just before he did. "Unless you're dueling against him. Then that's the only contact with a blitzball you'll ever make. No wonder you always beat him."

Sora blinked as Riku dove into the water. Having remembered little about the incident seven years ago, he didn't know for himself how much he had frightened everyone around him. However, he did know how frightened he was himself, and though he remembered so little about his near-drowning, he definately remembered his nine-year-old self desperately clinging on to any scrap of life.

He stared into the water where Riku had just doven into, and watched as he resurfaced and swam about.

Sora remembered how he kept away from the Island for days, almost weeks, after the accident, fearing that any contact with the ocean water would suck him under for sure, determined to have him this time. Wakka, however, took it upon himself to remind him that the sea hadn't done anything, but the blitzball. Sora had begun to swim again, but kept his distance from those deadly balls afterwards.

Riku, as well, had helped Sora overcome his fear of drowning.

_"You can't be afraid!"_

_"Why not?"_

_"My mom said something about not being scared to do stuff. Otherwise, everything would be so much more boring. Oh yeah, she also said that you have to live for something, whether it's something you want, something you have, or to hate something."_

_"Okay! Then I'll live to...uh...hate blitzballs! 'Cause they hurt..."_

Sora smiled, then leapt off the trunk of the paopu tree. He then dove into the water, joining in Riku's swim, but keeping well away from the blitzball whizzing through the air.

* * *

Why am I so mean to Sora? Probably because I love him to itty bitty pieces...no really I do. 

I rather love this story, although it's not my favorite: I felt it didn't exactly have that childlike aura that "Cooties and Wishes" did, but probably because of the theme of this story itself. Plus, it gives me a reason to never write stories involving Riku and Sora playing blitzball, hahaha...

Hope you enjoyed!

Reviews are much appreciated.


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